President Obama’s First State of the Union 2010
January 29, 2010
For those that watched Obama’s first State of the Union broadcast you probably already know the holes in the speech, however, for those that did not watch or were not really listening or paying attention to the events over the last year, this should help you put the Obama Administration in the correct perspective.
Obama stated, “for the first time in history — my administration posts our White House visitors online. And that’s why we’ve excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions.”
Okay, yes the Obama administration was the first to implement a policy so the entire world will know the visitors to the White House. Which can be good and bad at the same time, we should be able to see the errors here. As Americans, we like to know the visitors that are allowed in the White House, but when you post on the information on a website, the entire world, including terrorist have the same information.
Another point in that same statement is the one concerning the lobbyists. Obama did sign an executive order in January of 2009 that barred who became members of the administration from working on matters they lobbied on for two years or in agencies, they lobbied during the previous two years. Sounds great, right?
Well it would be, if President Obama did not have the power to change the rules for his pleasure. This was done when he waived the rule for Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, who was a registered lobbyist for the defense contractor Raytheon before being appointed in January. Another waive occurred with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk who was a lobbyist for investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., and law and lobbying firm Vinson & Elkins LLP in Austin, Texas.
Other waivers of the Obama Administration include Jocelyn Frye, former general counsel at the National Partnership for Women & Families, and , the former senior vice president for the National Council of La Raza, allowing them to work on issues for which they lobbied.
The Health Care Bill has issues as well. Before the State of the Union Address by President Obama, I guess no one let the President in on the new numbers released by the CBO as the President stated, “Our approach would bring down the deficit by as much as $1 trillion over the next two decades,” which is totally out of line. As a matter of fact, the CBO estimated the Senate health care bill, which was passed on Christmas Eve, would only reduce the federal deficit by $132 billion over the 2010 to 2019 time period. The bill will cut the deficit around $1 trillion over the next two decades, which is only half of the promised forecast.
Another promise Obama discussed during the State of the Union address was tax cuts. He stated,” Let me repeat: we cut taxes. We cut taxes for 95 percent of working families. We cut taxes for small businesses. We cut taxes for first-time homebuyers. We cut taxes for parents trying to care for their children. We cut taxes for 8 million Americans paying for college,” the president said tonight.”
“As a result, millions of Americans had more to spend on gas, and food, and other necessities, all of which helped businesses keep more workers. And we haven’t raised income taxes by a single dime on a single person. Not a single dime.”
Was this truly a tax cut for middle America? The truth behind this statement is that he was not really expressing anything at all to do with a tax cut but with the Making Work Pay tax credit, which allowed working individuals the ability to receive a maximum of $400 and couples filing jointly $800 on their 2009 and 2010 tax returns. With tax credits, in most cases, the money that is taken off what a person owes is not truly going to help them much at the time. Self-employed individuals normally pay taxes when they file their taxes, any credits are normally just taken out what the individual or family owes. This type of tax credit may put money in the hands of some Americans, but in most cases, the money received is already spent by the family to pay up back bills, etc…
For those of you that missed Obama’s smoke and mirrors or first State of the Union we wanted to allow you to have a chance to review and see that is the same ole Obama over promising and under-delivering.
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Please take a few minutes and leave your reply’s or comments on Obama’s First State of The Union as we would love to hear your thoughts.
22 Comments to President Obama’s First State of the Union 2010
Comments
Al
I have to agree with your comments. Hope we can hold out three more years with him. We can do as much as possible with the Nov. election this year.
Claire,
First I would like to thank you for chiming in.
I agree we American’s must stand tall, and rise to take our country back. This regime has continually shown us how underhanded they really are. Thank God for Scott Brown or this country was about to take a path of which it would have never been able to recover.
I’m not sure how anyone can help but see anything but what this current administration for what it truly is. Our country can no longer endure this type of over the top spending without paying the price. The really sad part is I wish them success as it would be good for us all. That being said I cannot approve of this back room style leadership and I think overall most American’s are sick and tired of these bully style tactics. The Obama Administration needs to cut spending, and spend time on what matters, and that is getting people back to work, and then we can address health care reform and other high priorities.
God Bless America
Al,
To me, it’s so sad that everything is always across party lines versus being what is good for the country.
Sometimes it’s seems to me that Democrats and Republicans are in cahoots with another and the American citizens like you and me are always left with the short end of the stick.
I still think about the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction yet we are still in Iraq and Afghanistan and I don’t know if we have gained anything by being there (I think that it’s safe to say Cheney and Halliburton did gain a bit by being there); I hope I am wrong.
As for Obama, I think he needs to lead on this issue of being stern with the banks and how they brought on this mortgage mess and the swindling of good people’s money. The bankers are just a variation of Bernie Madoff.
I don’t know; we just keep hoping.
Carmen
Carmen,
You have covered a lot of ground here. On the historical part of this I will try to be brief.
There were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We know this because they were used on the people of Iraq. Unfortunately, the UN stalled long enough for Hussein to move the bulk of these weapons out of the country. How advanced were these weapon systems? We won’t know until the next Middle East war (notice I said “next” and not “if there will be another”). Either way, we also know that Saddam Hussein was friendly towards Al-Qaeda and openly funded terrorism so the preemptive invasion was a logical choice for National Security.
Before I get into this next statement let me say I am American first, a Constitutionalist second, a Conservative third, and Republican forth. I generally vote Republican as a lesser of the two evils. That being said, it servers no purpose for President Obama to get tougher with the banks. This recession originated with the collapse of the real estate industry, NOT the banks. The real estate industry took the banks down with them.
Now let’s examine what happened to the real estate industry. For years the Democrats have fought to make loans available to low income families. On the surface that sounds like a noble idea, however, making home loans available to families that could not afford the mortgages is neither noble nor practical. They did it to get votes. It’s that simple.
The demand for housing created by all of this easy finance money that the Democrats and ACORN insisted on drove the housing prices up in many major markets. This made it even harder for the low income families to make their mortgage payments, yet Congress forced our banks to make these loans.
All of these “Liar” loans, “No Doc” loans and “sub-prime” loans were rolled up into securities that were bought sold and traded. When the sub-prime loans were adjusted fewer home owners were able to make their payments and the foreclosure tsunami commenced. Banks were faced with worthless paper and over priced foreclosed properties as a result. Then the banks began to fail.
President Bush attempted to have Congress impose more stringent regulations of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the banking industry on more that one occasion. So did Senator McCain. Congress refused to act.
But this is information that should be delved into in another blog post.
There is ample room for blame on both parties. While the Republican’s may not have caused the recession they did NOT do enough to stop it. They were gutless.
All that said President Obama has yet to seriously address what created the recession to begin with…. The Real Estate Industry. We have spent Trillions in an attempt to stimulate the economy and have done little to fix the original problem. Why you ask? President Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste”. And they haven’t.
This administration has spent billions of dollars on a left wing wish list and done nothing to fix what was broken. In simple terms this administration wants to put a tourniquet around America’s neck while our big toe is bleeding. If we were not in a recession the two leading components of the Obama agenda, Health Care Reform and Cap and Trade would put us in one.
What is the answer? Get Al to post another Blog article about common sense suggestions on fixing the economy. HINT – we can start with the real estate industry.
he’s out of here
Travis, I agree we must stand up for our country and do whats required to take it back!
I was disappointed with the overall tone of the State of the Union address.
It clearly demonstrated that Obama and the Democrats sill don’t get it after their historic defeat in the Massachusetts Senate race this month and losing two governorships last year.
President Obama refuses to take real responsibility for his failures and be honest with America. I wanted to hear him say “I hear you America” but I did not. I did hear more empty promises. We don’t need a “Jobs Bill” we need JOBS and the best way to accomplish this is by reducing taxes and government spending then telling them to get the hell out of our way.
Let free enterprise lead the way. Let the oil companies drill where they know they can produce and stop sending billions oil dollars overseas to countries that hate the US and would do us harm. This would generate thousands of good paying jobs immediately and strengthen our National Security. The current administration is undoubtedly out of touch with the American people and has shown they lack the leadership skills to get us out of this recession.
What I heard in the State of The Union was promises of more of the same.
The government better be thinking in terms of job stimulation. Given the mood of the American voter they will need it after the 2010 midterm election.
.-= Las Vegas Homes´s last blog ..Commercial Real Estate Bubble =-.
Mack, I couldn’t agree more.
Oklahoma has a tremendous oil base, and would really stand to benefit by us drilling here in the U.S. NOW. Not by sending billions to overseas drilling expeditions that don’t add U.S. jobs nor stimulate our economy. Just like the “Jobs Bill” we Do Not need a Jobs bill. We need Jobs just like President’s Kennedy & Reagan proved we need to cut taxes and allow free enterprise to rise, and flourish, like we have in the past and therefore, stimulating the economy and increasing revenues for our treasury.
God Bless America
I said it again and again before the election – “Obama has no leadership experience. He needs a resume reflecting SIGNIFICANT leadership experience before taking over leadership of the free world.” My cautions fell on deaf ears, everyone was so wildly charged up about him that they figured the lack of leadership experience didn’t count.
All of that said, the most important thing I ever learned about leadership after 22 years as an Army officer is to surround myself with REALLY SMART advisors and then do what they tell me
At a minimum, Obama was smart enough to surround himself with REALLY SMART advisors (look who he picked as a running mate as opposed to the insult to thinking women everywhere McCain picked).
For better or worse, he now has one (1) year of on-the-job training in a VERY HARD JOB and he still has REALLY SMART advisors. In an organization as huge and unwieldy as the United (more or less) States of America it will take far more than a year to implement any significant changes.
Let’s pray that the American taxpayers start to see some return on our training investment in President Obama over the next couple of years.
God’s Peace,
Drusilla
Drusilla, thanks for your feedback.
Even though, we have drastically different political views, you are right about one thing, and let’s pray our ROI with Obama turns around quickly. My main concern, is that this is No position for OJT or at least IMHO. When it comes to leadership skills, you either have it or you don’t, and while I think it’s more than obvious my concern is those that still don’t see this administration for what it truly is.
God Bless America
Drusilla you were right about Obama’s lack of leadership experience and it shows. We differ in our opinions about his choice of “really smart advisors”. Let’s start with Biden. Other than the Violence Against Women Act Biden has been on the wrong side of almost every issue since 1972. Of all the Vice Presidential picks Obama could have made he was the worst IMHO. As much as I lean towards voting Republican I would have considered crossing over if Hillary would have been on the ticket (preferably the top). We had no business electing a President that needed OJT given the state of world affairs from either party so Hillary was the logical choice. And at the very least, the best choice for the Vice Presidential slot. That was his first real decision and it was a bad one. His decisions and choices of staff have gone down hill since.
Obama needs to abandon his leftist agenda and let the free market work. We can ill afford the agenda from the left in good times and we can certainly not afford it in bad times.
There are plenty of things that my family wants to do that is NOT within our budget. We don’t write hot checks or borrow money to do it. We do what we can afford and stay within our budget. It is time for the government to show real restraint, fiscal responsibility and a little common sense.
And yes he can affect change immediately. Let’s put America back to work by starting an aggressive energy policy that includes drilling, nuclear, new oil refineries and every other natural resource to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. Loosen the reigns on drilling and you will see immediate employment with good paying jobs, not jobs created by and paid for by the government. It won’t cost the American tax payers a cent, AND the price of oil will drop. Now there is a JOBS program for you Mr. Obama!
Alen, your web site is very well done. I totally agree with your assessment of the Pres’s state of the union address, and his performance, or lack of it so far.
GREAT job on the site, very informative.
3 more years——-God Help Us
Chris,
Thanks for stopping by and chiming in. You know Chris no matter what they do, one major thing they underestimated is whom we have on our side and that is the Lord. A perfect example is what happened last week with Scott Brown.
God Bless America
Hey Al, you have done a great thing. It is important for us to state our beliefs at this time. The average person needs to let their opinion be stated. That is what is happening with the elections of Scott Brown and others who were elected despite Obama’s endorsement. The people are speaking out. We cannot let the progressives push their agenda through unnoticed. America is waking up, thanks for sounding the alarm……by the way, I’ll take Sarah Palin’s acumen anyday over Joe Biden’s abiliy to count. Three letter word spelled JOBS, remember that one!!!!!…..jd
JD I agree wholeheartedly. What this administration has not figured out is to cut personal and business taxes. If they will cut business taxes our economy will flourish and the treasury will have what they need just like us the people. How do you spell MONEY?
The jobs bill is just the opposite thing we need as it just means more regulations and red tape, therefore resulting in a much slower recovery.
God Bless America
Polosi needs to get a new hairdo. She was constantly pulling her hair back. The stock market sure didn’t like what Obama had to say.
Floyd thanks for stopping by.
Truthfully, I don’t think a new hairdo is going to help. I think we would be much better off to Impeach her on the fact that she is a lot of the current administrations problem, not to mention she is a total idiot.
Hi Al:
It’s a real shame that he is still “blaming” President Bush.
His idea of hope & change is leading this great nation into bankruptcy.
Milt thanks for chiming in.
You are absolutely correct, they need to cut taxes, and let businesses flourish, and then that will have create jobs, and the treasury will get what it needs. Instead they are focused on more red tape and more bureaucracy. This type of self-serving backwards thinking is exactly what keeps us in the mess we are in now.
Al, good comments! Also if you noticed he spoke a bit about liquidity for small business, however, he then touted the healthcare reform and agreesion on cap and trade. This is insane, until our goverment gives the green light to business, all are going to wait to see what the results are before moving forward with hiring, consumers are going to wait as no confidence in the market!
This is where we need to listen to “The Beatles” LET IT BE!
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Hey Mark always good to hear from you.
I couldn’t agree more.
If he would concentrate more on managing our existing government inefficiencies, and therefore, truly cutting the budgets rather than trying to put these absolutely absurd high cost policies and programs in place, our free enterprise system would gain confidence and flourish once again.
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